Paris

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“The scene after the wreck” as printed in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle 1st April 1901

One of our customers came into the search room recently to enquire about the crew of the Steamer “Paris” that sunk off the Northumberland coast near Hauxley, South of Amble, on the evening of the 29th March 1901.

The archive didn’t have any records specific to the “Paris”, so we had to do some research. We started by identifying the parish that Hauxley belonged to in 1901, which was Warkworth parish. Having ascertained this, we could then search on “Reading Room” a piece of software available to use in the search room that has our collection of digital parish records. However not everything is on Reading Room and this particular record wasn’t, so we had to go to the microfilm parish records of St Lawrence church, Warkworth and look at the burial register. Sure enough there was an entry for the burials listed as “Five bodies cast up by the Lee at Hadston from the wreck of the “Paris””. They recorded the names as:

  • A Thompson about 43 years old
  • E Sawyers – 22 years
  • R Felsed – 34 years
  • Man Unknown – 37 years
  • S Fergusen 22 – years

The date of burial was Aril 3rd 1901 and the ceremony was performed by Charles Baldwin.

A little more digging found a report in the Shields Daily News on the 3rd April 1901 listing:

  • W Jennings, as the Able Seaman
  • H Waterhouse, the Steward
  • ? Bell, the Chief Engineer
  • ? Tenby, 2nd Engineer

As the deaths were sudden and in suspicious or violent circumstances there needed to be an inquiry. The inquiry was reported in the newspapers and is available to view on the British Newspaper Archive (you can search for free in our search room). The Shields Daily Gazette on 3rd Aril 1901 reported the full list of the crew as obtained from a “pocket book cast up by the sea”. The list of the crew is as follows:

  • W Hutton, Captain
  • A Thompson, Mate
  • T Bell, Chief Engineer
  • ? Tenby, 2nd Engineer
  • R Felsed, Boatswain
  • W Jennings, Able Seaman
  • Walter Smith, Able Seaman (survived)
  • S Fergisen, Fireman
  • E Sayers, Fireman
  • H Waterhouse, Steward

As you can see the spellings differ somewhat, but eventually we found all the names of the crew recorded, albeit without the first initial of Mr Tenby, 2nd engineer.

Interestingly, Walter Smith, the only survivor of the wreck, appears on the 1901 census staying as a boarder with George Douglas a farmer at Bondicar in the Parish of Hauxley and unusually some additional information is recorded under “Profession or Occupation” recorded is “Sailor saved out of 10 men 29/3/01”. The census of 1901 was completed on the 1st April that year and, as the accident was just a few days before, the enumerator may have been sufficiently moved by the tragedy to feel the need to add the additional information.

Portrait of Walter Smith as printed in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle 1st April 1901

The “Paris” was a screw steamer heading with its cargo of cement from Rochester to Leith when it struck the Bondicar rocks near Hauxley around 8 o’clock in the evening. The crew managed to get into the lifeboat but were capsized three times, each time less of the men were able to clamber back into the boat until Walter Smith was the only man left, the lifeboat eventually drifting him to shore.

Scene after the wreck as printed in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle 1st April 1901

All the bodies that were recovered from the “Paris” were buried at Amble East Cemetery. Perhaps you are related to one of the men, perhaps you can help us with some more information?

BERWICK ADVERTISER, 9TH JUNE 1922

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DEATH OF MR WILLITS

47 YEARS HEADMASTER OF THE BRITISH SCHOOL

The death of Mr H. W. Willitts, formerly headmaster of the British School, Berwick, took place on Sunday after a short illness following a seizure he had over a week ago. The news was received in the town with the deepest regret and none felt it more than those who had passed through his hands during the 47 years he was headmaster at the British School. All over the world where old boys and girls are scattered the news of Mr Willits’ death will come as a personal grief. To know Mr Willits was to gain daily evidence of the interest he held in the well-being of his “boys,” as he familiarly called them, to feel the kindly sympathy he took in their work, and to know that at the times he was most stern, he sought to correct some tendency which might in later life prove the undoing of his pupil.

Mr Willits was the eldest son of the late Mr John Willits, S. S., who for many years acted as manager for Messrs Rennoldson and Capper, timber merchants, Newcastle-on-Tyne, his mother being one of the well-known family of Woodroffe of Surrey. He began his scholastic career as a Pupil Teacher in the Jarrow Chemical Coy’s School at South Shields, and passing the Queen’s Scholarship Examination in the First Division at Christmas, 1868, he later occupied the sixth place in Boro’ Road College. During his stay there he was awarded the only certificate given in his year for School Management, and he left as the second man of his year.

In 1871 he was appointed teacher in the School at New Marske, one of the forty-two schools maintained by Jos. Pease, Esq., and while a student gained certificates in Chemistry, mathematics, Physiography, mechanics and Drawing. After spending five months at New Markse he was appointed to the Berwick British School, on the special recommendation of the late Sir H. E. Oakley, H. M. Inspector for British Schools in the North of England. During his stay in Berwick Mr Willits has had some tempting offers, but all of these he has declined to accept. Away back in 1874 he was invited by Sir H. E. Oakley to become an Assistant Inspector to reside in Durham, but he declined the position.

As a young man, Mr Willits was an adept at rowing and an active and enthusiastic member of the B.A.R.C. For six years he served as a volunteer with the 3rd Durham Artillery Volunteers. He was travelled much abroad, visiting various countries as Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Germany and Spain, and the information thus gathered has been most helpful to him in his profession, and to the pupils under his instruction, to whom he was ever ready to impart knowledge of the customs and life on the Continent. A keen bowler, he was one of the most enthusiastic members of the Berwick Bowling Club up to 1902, when he met with a serious cycling accident which prevented him from taking further part in his favourite game. In 1896, Mr Willits attained his semi jubilee at the British School, and was on that occasion made the recipient of a handsome gold watch and chain as a token of respect and esteem.

Berwick British School, plan, April 1858. Ref: NDE 08-01

He took an active part in the various organisations in those days, being for thirteen years Secretary and Treasurer of the North Northumberland Teachers’ Association. He was also associated with the Kiln Hill Sunday School, where he conducted a large Band of Hope for many winters, and for fifteen years discharged the duties of Superintendent. Mr Willits was a lifelong abstained and he was always been most assiduous in inculcating temperance principles in the minds of his scholars. He has acted as president of Berwick Choral Union and was vice-president of the old Debating Society which used to meet in the Bankhill Church Vestry. Mr Willits was a staunch Presbyterian and was Senior Elder of the Wallace Green congregation, of which denomination he had been a trustee for 32 years.

Mr Willits retired from the head mastership of the British School in March, 1918, owing to having passed the age limit, and he was then made the recipient of a well filled wallet as a token of esteem and regard from past and present pupils of the school.

Mr Willits was predeceased by his wife, a gifted lady and talented political organiser, a few years ago, and he felt her loss very keenly. He stayed more in the town after her demise, residence at the little bungalow nestling on the banks of the Whitadder at New Mills, where the worthy couple had often resided during Mrs Willits’ lifetime, being too pregnant of memories. He is survived by a grown-up family- Henry, who is a bank manager with Barclay and Co.; John, who during the war held the rank of Commander, and was engaged on convoy work; Fred, who holds an important position in West Africa; Janet, who is in the British School; and Annie, who is married and is in New Zealand.

LOCAL NEWS

Fri. June 9, light up 10.48 p.m. summer time.

Saturday being the King’s birthday the bells in the Town Hall were rung during the day, and the Town Flag and Union Jack were displayed.

Bishop Ormsby, Archdeacon of Lindisfarne, who was seriously ill for so long, received the most cordial of ovations at the Diocesan Conference on Wednesday, May 31st.

Lieut.-Col. The Hon. H. E. Joicey was present at the 14th (King’s) Hussars’ annual dinner at the Grand Hotel on Wednesday, May 31st.

Mr and Mrs Hugh Miller, of the Katzin-Miller Repertory Company, have been spending a holiday in Berwick this week. More information can be found by visiting the Berwick Friends website: http://www.berwickfriends.org.uk/history/hugh-miller-actor/

Hugh Miller (left) and Henry Oscar in a scene from the British film The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937). Oscar was playing the role of Robespierre and Miller was his secretary De Calmet.

Mr Philip Maclagan, son of Dr P. G. Maclagan, London, and nephew of Dr C. G. Maclagan, Mayor of Berwick, has had a picture hung in the Royal Academy exhibition this year. The picture has been purchased by Mrs Winston Churchill.

The Best Job in the World?

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Hello I am the new Archives Assistant at Northumberland Archives. It’s my seventh week here and I can honestly say that I am enjoying the job more and more each week. Not only do I get backstage access to all the documents and other historical objects the archive holds but I also get to share these with our customers and share their joy when they find the record they were searching for.

Week one of my new job and my main task was to find my way around the building. It seemed labyrinthine, very similar looking corridors and strong rooms with more than one entrance/exit made for a confusing first few days. Having got the hang of that I was then looking to familiarise myself with the types of records stored here. OK that sounds like an achievable aim, I thought, how naïve I was! Last week I helped sort out our latest acquisition, as seen on TV, yes really, Look North filmed the acquisition and already the records are listed on our online catalogue and available for the public to view.

Week two I learned how to assist customers with their Archives and Records Association (ARA) card, what is that you may ask? Well all users of the archive have to register to use the service and whilst most have done so online before arriving some have not been able to and in all cases, users need to show the appropriate ID in order to complete their registration. Getting to grips with the technology was another lesson learnt.

Week three and an introduction the Ordnance Survey (OS) maps, originally produced to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. The OS maps, of which we hold the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions covering the 1860s, 1890’s 1920’s and 1939 respectively can be really helpful to people wanting to research a particular village, farm or town. The archive holds many more maps of course and these can be found using our online catalogue. Just type https://northumberlandarchives.com/test/catalogue/ into google and search away.

Week four and by now I was starting to see returning visitors to the search room and I was lucky enough to be able to help one, the person was looking for someone who had been a miner and had died as the result of an accident. Having looked through the list of persons killed or injured in the mines we could not find him. So onto the Ancestry website and the 1911 census and The British Newspaper Archive website, which yielded some good results. The customer was delighted and so was I, having felt that I had actually helped someone and not just had to say “ Erm…I’ll just ask my colleague”.

Week five. One of the regular collections people ask for is the St George’s Records (Morpeth County Lunatic Asylum). These are the kind of records that give rare, detailed information to the family historian. Valuable information that can’t always be gleaned elsewhere, like their health at the time of admittance and throughout their stay, even their close relatives name and address may appear in the next of kin book. Obviously, some of this information can be troubling to read and it is worth preparing yourself for this, should you wish to request such records.

Last week I was fortunate enough to be asked to do some research for a blog. Into the search room came a customer interested in the Steamer “Paris” which sank at the start of the 20th century just off the coast near Hauxley. Whilst they knew about the sole survivor of the ship wreck they were interested to know about the ones who were not so lucky, so watch this space for a blog specifically on this soon.

This week and it is some local farm records that have to be unboxed, labelled and re-boxed in preparation for listing onto the catalogue. The range of deposits to the Archive is so varied and it is a real privilege to be part of the process, what treasures will we unearth?

The task of familiarising myself with our records is of course ongoing and will be for the time that I am employed here, that is what makes the job so interesting, there is always something new to see and new to learn. Having been a customer myself before applying for the job I know how satisfying it is to see records relating to your family. The quarter session papers are my next stop, why not come along and see if they hold any interesting information for you too!?

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